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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Private Barrel Selections.

Private selection barrels are hot
items. Retailers, serious whiskey bars,
and local whiskey societies desperately want them. Unfortunately, the demand has resulted in some
distilleries being overbooked, some are low on available stock, some give a
take-it-or-leave-it option of barrels that are nothing special, and some have
had to suspend their barrel selection program.

For the most part, the barrels
offered for selection are going to be superior barrels. This does not mean, however, that privately-selected
Bourbon is going to taste better than the standard issue of that brand. Sometimes private barrels are not better, they’re just different. Oftentimes, they can essentially taste the
same as the standard, less expensive bottles, and occasionally, they’re
disappointing because they’re not as good as the standard offering.

A private selection can be disappointing
due to the lack of experience of the selection team, or because their personal preferences
are a little off, and you can end up with a Bourbon that is too bitter, bland,
or unbalanced. Additionally, very few
distilleries permit bottling of private selections at barrel strength, so when
proof is taken down, the flavors in the private selection change and it might
not taste anything like it did straight from the barrel, so the selection team
has to toy with adding the right amount of water. The key is that consumers need to look for
private barrels from palates they trust.

In some circumstances the stars
line up, a knowledgeable selection team has access to enough barrels, and fate
includes a true honey barrel in the mix.
A quick Twitter survey (thanks for all of the tweets!) came up with a
great list of retailers and bars who have selected your favorite private
barrels. Four Roses, Smooth Ambler, and
Willett (whose program is now on a hiatus) absolutely dominated your tweets, with
an occasional Old Weller Antique, Knob Creek, Woodford Double Oaked, and a few
others rounding out the list.

Some of these private barrels are
known by the people who selected them, like Doug Philips – whose Rye selection
is spoken of in legendary terms – and newer selection groups, particularly the Bourbon
Crusaders. On rare occasions, private
barrels are known by their own name, like “Wheated Warrior” and “Aged Truth.”

Certain retail stores have gained a
reputation through consistently great picks across all distilleries, like
Liquor Barn, or an award-winning selection, like Crown Liquors with its 2014 Four
Roses OBSK pick. Bars and restaurants
with private barrel programs can become renowned for their picks too, like many
Louisville establishments (as should be expected), but non-Kentucky players,
too. Dry 85 in Annapolis, for example,
has an outstanding private barrel program, but it goes a step further and has
also worked with Angel’s Envy on developing unique private blends.

Consumers are starting to look not
just for any private barrels, but for barrels with particular characteristics,
like OBSK and OESK barrels aged on the East side of Warehouse M at Four Roses
(“ME” barrels), and odd 65 gallon barrels stored upright at Heaven Hill for 15
years (which became part of mysterious private barrel of Heaven Hill Select
Stock). Keep an eye and an ear tuned for
these kinds of tips because this sort of information can help give the consumer
confidence that the extra money will be worth it.

I haven’t been lucky enough to try
any of the Doug Philips selections, Wheated Warrior, or Aged Truth, but I’ve
been amazed by the quality of private barrels that are more readily available. Some of my favorite private barrels over the
past several years (not necessarily ranked in order) have included:

·2014 Heaven Hill Select Stock, 15 year from
65-gallon barrels, selected by Bourbon Bar (despite being on the menu as a $40
pour, these bottles were returned under a shroud of mystery, and have since
trickled out into retail);

·2015 Knob Creek 120 proof – aged 15 years
instead of the standard 9 years – selected by Liquor Barn (I’m in the middle of
this one now; it’s the best Beam product I’ve had other than Booker’s 25th
Anniversary).

What has been your favorite private
barrel selection? Which retailers and
restaurants or whiskey bars routinely stock the best private barrels? Your Twitter responses gave the following
stops for an epic road trip across the U.S.:

Kentucky / Cincinnati

Liquor Barn (Louisville, Lexington,
Bowling Green, Danville, KY)

Haymarket Whiskey Bar (Louisville,
KY)

Down One Bourbon Bar (Louisville,
KY)

Bourbon’s Bistro (Louisville, KY)

Westport Whiskey & Wine
(Louisville, KY)

Cork ‘N Bottle (Crescent Springs,
KY)

The Party Source (Bellevue, KY)

D.E.P.’s Fine Wine & Spirits
(Cincinnati, OH and northern KY)

The Livery (Lexington, KY)

East

Julio’s Liquors (Wesborough, MA)

Joyal’s Liquors (West Warick, RI)

Dry 85 (Annapolis, MD)

Southeast

McScrooge’s (Knoxville, TN)

Bottles Beverage Superstore (Mt.
Pleasant, SC)

Decatur Package (Decatur, GA)

Lincoln Road Package Store
(Hattiesburg, MS)

Nasa Liquor (Houston, TX)

Midwest / Northern
Midwest / West

Big Red Liquors (Indianapolis,
Terre Haute, Bloomington, IN)

Crown Liquors (Indianapolis, IN)

Liquor Locker (Evansville, IN)

Tippins Market (Ann Arbor, MI)

Antioch Fine Wine (Antioch, IL)

Binny’s Beverage Depot (all over
Chicago, IL)

West Lakeview Liquor (Chicago, IL)

Warehouse Liquors (Chicago, IL)

South Lyndale Liquors (Minneapolis,
MN)

Ken & Norm’s Liquors
(Minneapolis, MN)

Davidsons Liquors (Highlands Ranch,
CO)

West Coast

Hard Water (San Francisco, CA)

Elixir Saloon (San Francisco, CA)

Which stores or bars are missing
from this Twitter list? Please add your
favorites in the comments below. Cheers!

I was referring to Jordan's comment regarding the private barrel pick from Rose City Liquor - they currently have an OBSK there. I've noticed quite a few private barrel picks around Portland including an Eagle Rare, quite a few different Four Roses, and a Blanton's which I picked up but have yet to try.

Fishpaws has a very tasty Knob Creek single barrel selected by local tasters, and they have about 4 cases left. The selection was described in an April 20th post on the Maryland Bourbon Tasters FB page, here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1435451316714934/

Totally agree with Dry 85. Have a bottle of their private barrel Eagle Rare. Waiting for their Smooth Ambler private barrel. Also had a Buffalo Trace private barrel at Southern Steak and Oyster that was one of the best bourbons I have tasted.

Dave,To your comment "This Definitely has a high rye kick. The lips & tongue tingle upon first taste... The 59.7% alcohol content lends to that."I actually drove the 40 miles to buy what turned out to be the last OBSV bottle in the store 2 weeks ago on account of your tasting notes and thought I bought your same bottle. Until I realized my OBSV from them was at 57.6% alc content from Warehouse US Barrel Y3-3R. This is not the bottle you got, is it, or does that mean they had 2 different OBSV releases? I guess I am hoping your alc content % was a typo and that I have your same bottle:)

These are some of the best in the Bay Area. Just reviewed SF's Healthy Spirits Single Barrel Select of Weller 107 that you can read here: www.bourbonandhouse.com. Keep you posted one here and on bourbonandhouse.com with any future barrel selects I get my hands on. SF Civic Center Wine and Liquor Buffalo Trace Single Barrel Select review coming soon too. Cheers from San Francisco! Feel free to check out bourbonandhouse.com for any reviews and updates on Single Barrel selections available in the Bay Area.

From MD and have to agree with Fishpaws mention. I was just in Denver for the holiday and picked up a great Four Roses OBSF (11 years 3 months, 57.4%) at Small Batch Liquors. Incredible nose, spicy and sweet!

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Dave stood up in front of 40+ potential buyers during the tastings in Atlanta and when World Beverage Duluth picked their barrel and said "Since it is now off the board I can say World Beverage just selected my favorite barrel of all 50 we had for sale this year." He also made a trip to the store in April to sign barrels.

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Market Square Liquors in Tallahassee, FL. All 10 4R recipes on the shelf this year (9 left I think!) plus many many more SB picks. I've never seen another store have dual barrel blends of Woodford Reserve. They've had strong Willett picks over the years with an exceptional 8 year black wax top 3 or so years ago... has to be one of the best for barrel picks in Florida. Tell Barry Swanson I said hello!